Race For Raisina Hills: 145 Out Of 147 MLAs Cast Votes in Odisha

Bhubaneswar: Polling exercise for election of the 14th President of India today ended at about 2pm in the state assembly with 145 MLAs of all the political parties including one independent member taking part in the poll.

Though the Odisha assembly has a strength of 147 MLAs, two MLAs did not exercise their voting rights.

Reports said while Subala Sahoo, Congress party’s MLA from Bijepur(reserved) constituency could not vote as he is undergoing treatment in a hospital, Independent MLA Sanatan Mahakud did not cast his vote due to unknown reasons.

While the ruling BJD has 117 MLAs in the assembly, the Congress and the BJP have 16 and 10 members respectively. The Communist Party of India and Samata Kranti Dal have one member each while there are two independent members.